


Chloe Flips (Out)

by rachelstwomoms (LadySoymilk)



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Childhood Friends, Rachel Amber Lives, Rachel Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:41:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21717058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySoymilk/pseuds/rachelstwomoms
Summary: Sometimes Chloe wishes that Rachel wasn’t so good at everything. In the words of the principal and all of her teachers, Rachel’s a “well-rounded, exemplary student that Arcadia Bay Junior High School is lucky to have.” To Chloe, that’s just fancy, grown-up speak for “overachieving goody-two-shoes.” Perfect Rachel Amber is a member of pretty much every school club and team, and she’s part of a bunch of other stuff outside of school on top of that. Rachel, soccer team MVP. Rachel, model girl scout. Rachel, student council member.What about Rachel, BFF to Chloe and Maxine? Chloe wishes that she got to see her more often.
Relationships: Rachel Amber & Chloe Price
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. The Skate Park

It’s no secret that Rachel Amber’s got a huge crush on Justin the skater boy. Word spreads quickly in a small town like Arcadia Bay, especially among gossipy middle schoolers. By now most (if not all) of Arcadia Bay Junior High knows all about it. Ever since the sixth grade homeroom teacher shuffled everybody’s desks around after spring break and placed Rachel right next to him, Justin is all that she’s been talking about. 

Or at least that’s how it seems to Chloe Price. She may or may not resent her teacher for that.

Sometimes Chloe wishes that Rachel wasn’t so _good_ at everything. In the words of the principal and all of her teachers, Rachel’s a “well-rounded, exemplary student that Arcadia Bay Junior High School is lucky to have.” To Chloe, that’s just fancy, grown-up speak for “overachieving goody-two-shoes.” Perfect Rachel Amber is a member of pretty much _every_ school club and team, and she’s part of a bunch of other stuff outside of school on top of that. _Rachel, soccer team MVP. Rachel, model girl scout. Rachel, student council member._

What about _Rachel, BFF to Chloe and Maxine?_ Chloe wishes that she got to see _her_ more often.

With how busy Rachel is juggling her million extracurriculars and commitments, only rarely does she have the afternoon free to hang out with her friends.

By some miracle, today is one of Rachel’s free days.

After the dismissal bell rings, Chloe’s at her locker deciding which textbooks she needs to bring home for homework and which she can leave at school. The tween is blissfully and willfully ignorant of the fact that she’s a bit of an overachiever herself. Rachel meets her there, all packed up and ready to go, with her hoodie tied around her waist and a pair of roller skates slung over her shoulder. It’s still a mystery to Chloe how Rachel always manages to finish getting ready to leave before her. Every day. Without fail.

“Oh, good. You brought your board.”

Chloe looks at the skateboard at the bottom of her locker. “Rachel Amber, observant as ever.”

“Is it okay if I come over to your house today?”

“But it’s Thursday,” Chloe says, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t you have your drama queen lessons today?”

“ _Drama club_ ,” Rachel emphasizes, “got canceled because our teacher’s at a creative arts workshop in Portland. So, can I hang with you and Maxine until my dad’s done with work?”

It’s not like Chloe’s going to say no. In all honesty, she’s excited to be getting an extra afternoon to hang out with Rachel. She’s not going to let Rachel know that, though. So Chloe shrugs like it’s no big deal, and once she’s done in her locker she and Rachel head down the block to wait for Maxine. Arcadia Bay Junior High School gets out fifteen minutes before the elementary school does, so Chloe and Rachel stretch out in the grass patch in front of the building.

“Chloe.”

“What?”

“Do you wanna stop at the skate park for a little bit before we go home?”

There’s a small skate park with a few ramps and rails near Chloe’s house. William used to take her and Maxine there on the weekends when Chloe was first learning how to skateboard. Now that she’s in middle school, her parents allow her to spend a few minutes there after school, but only if her friends are there too, and only if she calls ahead of time and gets permission first.

“Sure,” answers Chloe, smiling. Rachel’s joined her and Maxine on their afternoon skate park trips a few times before, and it’s been cool to have someone else to skate around with. Maxine doesn’t skate. The younger girl prefers to sit under one of the nearby trees and take photos with her instant camera instead. There used to be a time when Maxine would ride around with her on Chloe’s old kick scooter, but ever since that one day when Chloe convinced her to go down one of the ramps and she ended up falling and scraping up both of her knees, she’s stuck to just safely watching from afar. But with Rachel, Chloe now has someone who can keep up with her on wheels, even if it’s with roller skates and not a skateboard like her. “But I need to ask my mom first.”

Rachel’s already sliding her flip phone over to Chloe. Chloe doesn’t have her own cell phone yet. She’s tried asking her parents for one before, but they won’t let her have one until she’s in high school.

Chloe opens the phone and it beeps in protest. The battery symbol in the upper right corner is completely red. “Rach, when was the last time you charged this thing?” Unsure how much time she has before Rachel’s phone dies, Chloe quickly punches in her mom’s number. Joyce is in the middle of her shift at the Two Whales Diner and won’t be home until later, but luckily she picks up. Chloe lets her know that she’s going to hang out at the skate park with Rachel and Maxine on the way home today.

“Can you tell Daddy that Rachel’s coming over?” Chloe adds. There’s a pause while Joyce says something to her daughter on the other end of the call. “Yeah, her dad’s gonna pick her up after work.” Another pause. “Yeah, we’ll be careful. Thanks, Mom. Bye.”

Right as Chloe’s thumb is about to hit the “end call” button, Rachel’s phone gives one last desperate beep before the screen goes black. Chloe mashes the “home” button a few times, but the device is completely dead. She gives it back to Rachel, who zips it up in the front pocket of her backpack.

The school bell rings and, after a minute, the first kids start to make their way out of the building. As usual, Maxine is one of the last to come out. Wearing her Polaroid camera around her neck, Maxine slows to a stop once she gets outside and slowly scans the schoolyard. As soon as she spots Chloe and Rachel, she breaks into a big smile and comes running over.

“Rachel, I didn’t know you were gonna be here today!” Maxine’s happy to see both of her friends and gets an urge to snap a photo. Her hands make their way around her camera.

Rachel loves being in front of the camera just as much as Maxine loves to be behind it. She grabs Chloe by the sleeve, pulling her closer to her, and poses for the little photographer. “Take one of us!”

At the last second before Maxine takes the shot, Chloe smirks and holds up two fingers behind Rachel’s head to give her friend bunny ears. The shutter clicks. The camera whirrs for a second before ejecting a blank white square, which Maxine hurries to stick inside her backpack out of the sunlight.

“Maxine, me and Rachel are gonna skate around for a bit before we go home. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, I just got some more film for my camera so I can take pictures.”

The walk to Chloe’s neighborhood isn’t long. It takes less than fifteen minutes to get from the Price house to school, and even less to get to the skate park because it’s right in between. For younger kids and tweens like Chloe, Rachel and Maxine, right after school is the best time to hang out there. They have free reign of the park for thirty minutes to an hour before the high school kids come and take over.

The trio dump their belongings under their usual tree, but only Maxine starts to make herself comfortable. She takes a seat next to her backpack and fiddles with her camera. Chloe takes off running with her board and stands by the line where grass meets concrete, waiting for her friend to finish putting on her skates. “Hey, Rach, I’ll race you to the far fence! No shortcuts and we have to go throughthe bowl.”

A competitive grin creeps onto Rachel’s face. “Around the rails?”

“ _Over_.”

“You’re on!” Finished with the last knot in her laces, Rachel hurries over to Chloe and they take their marks at the edge of the concrete. “Alright, Price. You ready?”

Chloe places one foot on the deck of her board, the other out and ready to kick off. “Ready… set…”

“Go!” Both girls shout together.

Chloe kicks hard, propelling herself forward and zipping across the stretch of grey.

Whenever Chloe challenges Rachel to a race, Rachel usually beats her. They’ve raced along this same path and the same sequence of obstacles many times in the past. Chloe’s been able to beat Rachel when they decide to go _around_ the rail, but every time they go _over_ it, she loses every single time. After making it through the bowl and back up the ramp, Chloe has to ollie over the railing before reaching the fence. So far, she’s never landed quite right. Her board tends to get away from her and she loses a few seconds catching up to it and hopping back on. Even if she had been ahead up until that moment, this is usually when Rachel gains on her and slides into first place at the very last second.

This whole week, while Rachel’s been busy with clubs and sports, Chloe’s been practicing. She and Maxine have been at the skate park every day so Chloe could work on landing that ollie at full, racing speed. She’s only done it successfully once.

But today she’s feeling kind of confident that she can do it again.

Approaching the edge of the bowl, Chloe brings both feet onto her board, skillfully shifting her weight at just the right moment in order to drop in smoothly. Years of practice with her dad and Maxine by her side and cheering her on allow her to glide back up the opposite end easily and effortlessly. She comes to one of the ramps and propels herself forward as hard as her legs can, the fact that Rachel still hasn’t passed her fueling her confidence and desire to win. Chloe is tempted to look behind her to see how much of a lead she has, but decides it’s not worth the risk of possibly losing her balance or speed.

Up ahead is Chloe’s final obstacle. The boss fight.

The grind rail.

Chloe keeps her speed as she zips forward and, at just the right moment, she pops the back of her board up and soars beautifully over the top of the rail. Her wheels touch back down, hitting the concrete with a satisfying _smack!_ The skateboard wobbles dangerously under her feet. Gritting her teeth, Chloe resists the instinct to jump off to safety and, instead, bends her legs, keeping her weight low and close to the ground. After a moment, her board steadies.

She did it!

Chloe breaks into a huge grin and lets out an exhilarated laugh, only slowing down once she reaches the fence. Her fists pump into the air victoriously and she spins around, ready to rub it in Rachel’s face. “Oh man! Did you see that? Yeah, I’m awesome!”

But Chloe doesn’t get an answer. Rachel’s nowhere to be found.

“Rachel?” Chloe first looks back along their “race track” to make sure her friend’s not lying on the ground injured or something. Squinting her eyes and carefully looking around, she finally spots Rachel in one of the corners of the park with a small group of boys. Chloe recognizes them as boys from her class, one of them being _Justin_. “Oh, _come on.”_

Suddenly Chloe doesn’t feel so much like a winner.

Chloe gets back on her board and skates over to where Rachel and the boys are huddled. They’re crowded around one of Justin’s buddies, Chloe thinks his name is Todd or Tatum or something, watching him play a handheld video game. “Uh, Rachel, what gives?”

“Oh, Chloe! Sorry, I was just saying ‘hey’ to everyone,” says Rachel. She kind of smiles at Justin and it makes Chloe want to gag. “Trevor was just showing us his new game.”

 _Trevor._ That’s right. “You totally bailed in the middle of our race.”

“I guess that makes you the winner today!” Rachel’s tone is lighthearted with absolutely no traces of ill-intent.

It gets under Chloe’s skin anyway. “Yeah, it’s not exactly winning if you’re racing against yourself,” she mutters, arms folded across her chest. 

Rachel either doesn’t hear her or pretends not to. “We’re gonna hang over here for a bit. You and Maxine can join us too, if you want.”

Chloe has never heard such an unappealing offer before in her life. “No thanks.”

“Well, all right,” Rachel says, turning back to Trevor’s screen. “Come and get me when it’s time to leave ‘kay?”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Grumbling in annoyance, Chloe starts to ride away. Who comes to a skate park to play video games, anyway? She calls out to the group over her shoulder even though she knows they’re probably not listening. “I’ll be over here. Skating. Because, you know, this is a _skate park_!”

Chloe returns to the grind rail, wanting more than ever to perfect her ollie so that she never loses to Rachel again. Next time they race, whenever that is, Chloe will show her…

But Chloe’s movements are agitated and clumsy. Her feet seem to be in all the wrong places at all the wrong times. She can no longer get her skateboard to do what she wants. Chloe jumps over the rail again and again, but for some reason she’s unable to stick the landing. She tries over and over, until there’s sweat beading on her forehead and she’s completely out of breath. On her final attempt, she doesn’t even make it over. The truck of her board catches on the edge of the rail, tripping her, and she nearly faceplants. Yelling out in frustration, Chloe kicks her skateboard out of the way and gives up trying.

Out of curiosity, Chloe looks over to the corner of the skate park where Rachel and the skater boys were earlier and immediately wishes she hadn’t. Rachel and Justin have broken off from their group and are hanging out a little ways away, just the two of them. Chloe’s too far away to hear what they’re saying, but Rachel skates around Justin in slow circles as they talk. Both of them are laughing and smiling and look like they’re having a grand old time. 

Chloe’s seen enough. Stomping on the tail of her board to make it pop into the air, Chloe grabs it and trudges back over to the tree. At least Maxine isn’t into gross boys yet. With a grouchy huff, Chloe flops into the grass next to her younger friend.

“Can you believe her, Maxine?”

Maxine looks up from the photo album of Polaroids in her lap. “What happened?”

“Rachel blew off our race to go hang out with some dumb boys,” Chloe complains. She gestures in their general direction with a thumb. “She’s over there being all lovey-dovey with Justin now.”

“Oh.” Maxine looks across the skate park and watches them for a moment. “Does Justin like Rachel back?”

“Probably,” Chloe scoffs. “She’s smart, popular _and_ she can skate. Why wouldn’t he?”

Maxine hums, absentmindedly fingering the edge of one of her photos. “Is he nice?”

Chloe doesn’t answer right away. When she does, she first heaves out a sigh. “I mean, yeah, he’s not _that_ bad, I guess…” She rolls onto her stomach and starts to pluck out blades of grass. “He’s not, like, a jerk or anything.”

“That’s good, right?”

Chloe’s voice rises in exasperation. “No, Maxine, it’s _not_ good!”

“Chloe.” With concern in her voice, Maxine scoots close to her friend and leans over, trying to look her in the face. Chloe averts her gaze. “What’s wrong?”

Honestly, Chloe doesn’t know how to reply. She doesn’t know why the thought of Rachel and Justin together bothers her so much. Rachel likes Justin. Justin likes Rachel. It’s only been a few months since Rachel moved to Arcadia Bay, but she’s already one of Chloe’s best friends. And as Rachel’s friend, Chloe should be happy for her.

Right?

“I don’t know, Maxine…” sighs Chloe, rolling onto her back again and closing her eyes. “Maybe I’m just tired. My skating’s all funky right now too.”

There’s a familiar _click!_ followed by the mechanical buzzing of gears. Chloe cracks open one eye to find Maxine with her camera pointed at her. Maxine grabs the photo and stows it away in her backpack. “Sorry, it was a really good angle and I thought you looked nice.”

Chloe can’t help but smile a little. “You’re lucky I make a great subject, Caulfield. Even your camera can’t resist my awesomeness.”

Having Maxine around always makes Chloe feel better. For the next few minutes, the two girls spend a moment of calm together as they look through Maxine’s photo album, Maxine showing Chloe all the new photos she added to it this week. The aspiring photographer usually feels a little uncomfortable letting people see her photos, but not when it comes to her best friend. Chloe’s always been supportive of her dream and always has nice things to say about them. It boosts Maxine’s confidence and makes her really happy.

As Maxine’s explaining the funny story behind one of the photos that Chloe pointed out, Rachel comes back to the tree. She skates over and falls gracefully into the grass next to her friends, wearing a sort of giddy, spaced out smile that Chloe and Maxine have never seen before. Rachel waits until both pairs of eyes are on her before she speaks. 

“Guess what!” Rachel practically squeals with excitement. “Justin’s my boyfriend now!”

Maxine’s mouth falls open in surprise. “Wowser, really?”

“He asked me if I wanted to go out with him and I said yes,” Rachel happily retells her story for her friends. Leaning in closer, her voice becomes softer her cheeks turn extra rosy. “We kissed.”

At the mere mention of the kiss, Maxine’s own face becomes strangely warm and she feels kind of embarrassed. At the same time, part of her is in awe at how Rachel’s already experiencing something that seems so grown up. Before Maxine can formulate a response to the announcement, there’s a _thump_ as Chloe kicks at her skateboard, causing it to flop over in the grass. _Thump._ Chloe uses the toe of her shoe to kick at it again. She keeps her eyes down, staring hard at the chipped design on the bottom of her board, but she can tell that both of her friends have turned to look at her.

“Justin, really?” There’s an edge to Chloe’s voice. “You locked lips with _him?”_

“What’s wrong with Justin?” Rachel crosses her arms and her tone instantly changes to match Chloe’s. Sensing an oncoming fight, Maxine shrinks and backs away slightly, putting a safer distance between herself and her friends.

“Duh. He’s gross.”

“And just how is he gross, then?”

Chloe dodges the question. She doesn’t have an answer. “You’re not even allowed to have a boyfriend!”

Rachel narrows her eyes and stares defiantly into Chloe’s. “I can have one if I want to, Chloe Price.”

“Oh yeah? What if I tell your dad?”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me!”

Rachel turns her back to Chloe and scoots closer to Maxine, flipping her hair over her shoulder and turning her nose up in the air. “Me and Justin are dating and we kissed and that’s that. You need to get over it.”

Chloe’s jaw clenches and her face burns a hot crimson. She doesn’t want to be anywhere near Rachel right now. Standing abruptly, she grabs her skateboard and starts to stalk away. “Whatever, Rachel! You’re the one with… with disgusting boy cooties!”

“Seriously? Cooties?” Rachel rolls her eyes. “If you haven’t noticed, Chloe, we’re not in kindergarten anymore.”

Chloe’s done talking to Rachel and pretends like she’s not there. “I’m gonna drop into the bowl. Are you coming, Maxine?”

Maxine stands, ready to go after Chloe. Before she leaves, she sighs and looks apologetically at Rachel, who’s now fuming in heated silence. “I’ll talk to her, okay?” Maxine half-walks, half-runs to the center of the skate park to the bowl, where Chloe’s already going in and out. Carefully as not to slip and fall, she takes a seat on the edge, letting her legs dangle down. “Chloe, what’s going on? Are you mad at Rachel for kissing Justin?”

“No!” comes the short, angry reply.

“You’re obviously mad at _someone_.”

Chloe frowns and lets her board come to a stop in the middle of the bottom of the bowl. “I’m not… I’m notmad at her.”

“It sure seems like it,” Maxine tells her. “I mean, you blew up at her right after she told us about it.”

“Don’t tell me you’re taking her side.” Chloe rests one arm on her hip. “You’re supposed to be my best friend, remember?”

“I _am_ your friend!” Maxine says indignantly. “But I’m Rachel’s too, and so are you.”

Chloe growls and kicks off, circling the bottom of the bowl until she gains enough momentum to come up the side and join Maxine at the top. She plops herself down next to her friend and sits there in silence, skateboard lying upside down in her lap. There’s a troubled expression on her face and it looks as though she has something else to say. Maxine waits quietly, just in case.

A couple of minutes pass and neither girl has said a word. Maxine is the first to break the silence. “Chloe?” Her friend gives a halfhearted grunt in response. “Do you want to just go home then?”

“She doesn’t have time for stupid boys!” Chloe suddenly blurts out. Maxine is momentarily confused, but then she realizes that Chloe’s gone back to talking about Rachel. “You know how busy she already is! Add a dumb boyfriend on top of that and she won’t have _any_ time left for us.”

Maxine doesn’t know what to say. She hadn’t considered that possibility until Chloe brought it up. It’s true that she doesn’t get to see Rachel that often because they go to different schools, except some days after school and on weekends sometimes. Maxine would be sad if she never got to spend time with her anymore. “So what do we do?”

“Let’s just get out of here.”


	2. The Accident

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * In this alternate universe, Rachel refers to her stepmother by her first name, Rose. Sera Gearhardt, her biological mother, is "Mom" and (unlike canon) has always been part of Rachel's life.

Chloe, still sounding upset, stands and lets her skateboard drop back to the ground. Glancing back at the tree, she sees that Rachel’s no longer sitting there. One of her feet rests on the top of her board as she looks around the skate park. As much as she doesn’t want to talk to Rachel right now, she’s still supposed to come over to her house today. Chloe’s not going to leave her behind.

Rachel’s over by the boys again, sitting next to Trevor and watching Justin and some of the others practice skateboard tricks. Chloe bites back a not-so-nice comment and grits her teeth. They’re not even doing anything special. Right now Justin’s in the center, trying to show off what looks to Chloe like a basic kickflip. So what? Chloe could do that when she was nine.

“Maxine, can you tell her that we’re leaving?” Chloe wants to squeeze in one last trick before they head out, and she wants to make sure that Rachel sees it.

If Rachel’s impressed by a little kickflip on flat ground, wait until she sees one done into the bowl.

Chloe watches Maxine timidly approach the group of boys and wave Rachel over. She coasts around the edge of the bowl, waiting for them to get closer before she pulls off her big, daring stunt. Rachel skates slowly to match Maxine’s walking pace, making Chloe’s skin itch impatiently.

But Chloe waits for the right moment.

Soon her friends are only a few feet away, and Rachel’s close enough for Chloe to see that she’s looking in her direction. That’s her cue. As she zooms towards the bowl, Chloe prepares for her jump. Right before the front of her board reaches the edge, she shifts her weight and her board flies into the air. Just like she’s done many times before, Chloe uses her shoes to flip her skateboard midair and it twists a beautiful 360 degrees.

The next thing she knows is she’s lying at the bottom of the bowl. 

“Chloe!”

Maxine’s panicked voice reaches Chloe’s ears, but she sounds so far away. She tilts her head towards the sound, and out of the corner of her eye she can see Maxine and Rachel climbing down into the bowl and rushing over to her. Chloe wants to sit up and reassure her friends that she’s fine and maybe crack a joke about her fall, but she can’t move. Not to mention her wrist is absolutely killing her.

The pain is intense and hits Chloe like a truck. She sucks in a ragged breath through her teeth, curling herself up on the ground and clutching her injured arm close to her chest. Her wrist hurts so much that she wouldn’t be surprised if she broke it again. She still has the scar from last time. Her parents are going to be so mad. They’re probably going to forbid her from coming here ever again.

“Chloe! Are you okay?” Maxine sounds like she’s about to cry. Chloe hates it when Maxine cries. She tries to tell her friend that she’s okay and not to worry about her, but her throat’s so tight that the words don’t come out. It would’ve been a lie anyway. She’s not okay. Her elbow hurts. Her hip hurts. But neither of these hurt more than her wrist, which now feels like it’s on fire.

 _Come on, shake it off._ Chloe wills herself to reassure Maxine with a smile or something, or at least show her that she can get up off the ground. _You’re fine. It’ll stop hurting soon. Probably._

It’s too late, because Maxine’s vision blurs as her eyes fill with burning hot tears, and she chokes out a cry of pain before crumbling into strangled, whimpery sobs. Chloe does find it kind of strange that Maxine’s so upset. From the way she’s crying, you would think that she was the one who was hurt, not Chloe.

Except it’s not Maxine. 

Chloe realizes, to her horror, that it’s her own self making those pitiful noises… which makes more sense, of course, but it’s the worst possible thing. For Chloe Elizabeth Price, there is nothing in the world that she hates more than crying in front of people. And this includes everyone, even Maxine and _especially_ Rachel Amber.

Speaking of Rachel...

Roller skates skid to a skillful stop a couple feet from Chloe and Maxine, and Rachel peers over at the girl sprawled out on the ground, folding her arms tightly across her chest. Chloe falls off her board all the time but she never _cries._ Rachel isn’t buying it. Her bottom lip juts out slightly in a grumpy pout. “Okay, Chloe, you can stop now. Stop trying to make me feel bad.”

When Chloe completely ignores her and instead appears to curl even more into herself, Rachel’s expression falters and she cranes her neck to try and get a better look. She then notices that Chloe’s shoulders are trembling, almost as though she’s shivering. It’s warm and sunny this afternoon, not a single cloud in sight, so she can’t possibly be cold.

“Rachel, Chloe’s hurt!” Maxine’s voice is frantic. “What do we do?”

“Chloe?” Rachel moves around to the other side of Chloe’s head and freezes once she sees her friend’s face. Chloe’s visibly in rough shape, and she really does sound like she’s in a lot of pain. And those are real tears. As a talented little actress, Rachel has long mastered the art of fake crying and has, admittedly, used it to her advantage loads of times. She can turn on the waterworks pretty much instantly and can give such a convincing performance that nobody suspects a thing. But this is Chloe, and Chloe doesn’t act.

Which means this is hella serious.

Their earlier fight temporarily forgotten, Rachel springs into action and crouches next to Chloe, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Chloe, we’ve got you. What hurts?”

 _Everything,_ Chloe thinks. “My wrist…”

Rachel’s eyes move to the spot in question and, sure enough, Chloe’s holding her wrist protectively against herself and is sort of shielding it with her other arm. The sight brings Rachel back two summers ago when she and her father went hiking up Mount Hood. On the way back, Rachel slipped on some wet leaves, causing her to trip over a hidden tree root and tumble a few feet down the path. She landed hard on her arm and ended up with a fractured wrist. Rachel still remembers how much she was crying and screaming on the way to the hospital because of how much it hurt. If Chloe’s wrist is broken, Rachel knows exactly how she feels. She feels a twang of empathy in her chest. “Can you get up?”

Chloe picks her head up and attempts to lift herself from the ground. Now that the initial shock of her fall has worn off a bit, her body actually responds when her brain tells it to move. She grimaces as she uses her sore elbow and side to push her upper body up. 

“Maxine, grab her other side,” Rachel says, noticing Chloe’s struggling and immediately moving to support her from the left. As she shifts her weight to steady her friend, her skates wobble and wheels threaten to slip out from underneath her. Rachel gives a low, annoyed growl. “Ugh, wait. Hold on…” She unlaces her roller skates and hastily kicks them off before returning to her position against Chloe. “Ready, Maxine?”

On the count of three, the girls combine their strength and help Chloe to her feet. They have to take the long way out of the bowl and slowly walk up the ramp, but the trio manages to make their way back to the tree. Rachel and Maxine make sure that Chloe can stand on her own two feet before they carefully let her go.

“Thanks,” Chloe mumbles, standing a little straighter. Taking a couple of baby steps to test her legs, Chloe is relieved to find that she can still walk unassisted. The side of her body that took the fall is really achy, and her wrist still hurts, of course, but the pain is no longer as severe. That, or she’s just gotten used to it. Chloe has a feeling that it’s the latter. Bringing her uninjured arm up to her face, she uses it to wipe the rest of her tears and snot away as best as she can.

“Will you be okay walking home?”

The question is for Chloe, but the inquirer isn’t looking directly at her. Instead, she’s staring down at her socks, which are probably no longer as white on the bottom as they are on the top, and is once again crossing her arms. The only difference is that her posture lacks the hostility from before.

Chloe finds it just as difficult to look at Rachel. “Yeah, I think so…”

“That’s good,” says Rachel, but then there’s a long pause. Rachel’s mouth opens and closes again as if she wants to say something else, but it never comes. Whatever it was, Chloe will never know, because Rachel appears to have changed her mind and is now shoving her feet back into her shoes. “I guess we’d better go.”

“Wait,” Chloe says, suddenly remembering, “my board-”

“I’ll get it!” Maxine jumps up. “Just stay here. I’ll get your skates too, Rachel.”

Maxine scurries off to retrieve her friends’ things from the bowl. When she comes back, she returns the roller skates to Rachel but keeps holding Chloe’s skateboard. “I’ll carry this home for you.”

Chloe gives her a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

Following suit, Rachel wordlessly picks up Chloe’s backpack and slings it over her shoulders, then wears her own in the front. “Come on, we’ll go slow.”

It comes as no surprise that the normally short walk to the Price house takes longer than usual. Maxine expected this. Chloe’s hurt, so it makes sense that she can’t walk at the same pace as she always does. What Maxine wasn’t expecting was the quiet. For the first time ever, the girls walk home in complete silence, and it’s not the nice, warm kind that Maxine likes, like when she and Chloe read together in the comfy nook behind the staircase at her house… even though most of the time they’re only doing so to prevent Maxine’s mom from scolding them for being too loud.

This quiet is unnerving.

After walking for a few minutes, Chloe’s careful steps turn into an ungraceful limp and it starts to become harder for her to keep up. Like Maxine, Chloe’s aware of the weird silence too, but she’s been so focused on keeping her feet moving that there’s no spark left in her for chit-chat. Besides, she’s sure that anything that came out of her mouth would just be some sort of exclamation of pain anyway. Her jaw is getting sore from clenching it so hard. But Chloe presses on, determined to get home to her dad as soon as she can.

Step by step. Block by block.

Maxine’s ears tune into the only audible sounds around her: the shuffling of rubber soles against asphalt and the jangling of the keychains hanging from Rachel’s backpack. Now that’s all she can hear. Shoe scuffs and rattling beads. _Please say something,_ she pleads, looking back and forth between her two friends. Sometimes Maxine wishes that she had superpowers. Then she could communicate messages to her friends using only her mind.

Hugging Chloe’s skateboard more tightly to her chest, Maxine looks over at Rachel, who also hasn’t uttered a word since they left the skate park. Rachel’s been oddly quiet, in a broody sort of way, and almost like she’s distracted. Is it because of her fight with Chloe? Maxine has been wanting to ask her about it, but the hint of a scowl on Rachel’s face keeps her from opening her mouth. The atmosphere is heavy and tense, and it weighs down on Maxine’s shoulders. 

Of all days for Chloe and Rachel to get in a fight, why did it have to be today? They hadn’t even had the chance to make up before Chloe…

Maxine swallows the lump in her throat and turns to check on her friend. “Chloe, how are you doing?”

The moment Maxine lays eyes on Chloe, her sneakers come to such an abrupt stop that she nearly stumbles. For the second time today, and what seems to Maxine could also possibly be the second time in her entire life, Chloe’s crying. She’s not even trying to hide it this time. And Maxine knows that this is _bad._ Chloe never cries. She’s the strongest, bravest girl that Maxine knows.

Chloe has been her best friend forever, and over the years Maxine’s watched Chloe take some pretty nasty spills. The sight of blood makes her tummy churn, so Maxine never really looked too closely, but Chloe’s gotten plenty of hardcore scrapes and cuts. When Chloe was seven, she tripped on one of her own shoelaces while running on the blacktop during recess and busted up both of her knees. Maxine took one look at the red dripping down her friend’s legs and freaked out. Of course, Chloe didn’t shed a tear. Maxine cried all the way to the nurse’s office, Chloe limping alongside her and reciting her entire repertoire of knock knock jokes in Hawt Dawg Man’s voice to try and make her stop crying. The nurse even thought that Maxine was the one who was hurt until she noticed Chloe’s knees.

“Don’t worry, we’re almost home…” Maxine croaks, trying really hard not to show her emotions in her voice. If her friend is hurt enough to cry about it, it must be really, really bad. She has to keep her cool. For Chloe. “Just a little farther, okay?”

They’re so close, close enough that they can see the Price house in the distance, but Chloe has reached her limit. Her legs feel too heavy to take another step. She stands there, hunched over, holding back sobs behind clenched teeth. “I can’t…”

Rachel moves to Chloe’s side and supports her with an arm around the waist. “Maxine, get her dad.”

Before Rachel even finishes her sentence, Maxine is already sprinting towards the familiar white house. She leaps up the front steps, letting the skateboard drop onto the lawn, and rushes to the door in such haste that she nearly crashes into it. Maxine’s heart pounds as she brings a shaky finger up to ring the doorbell once, twice, and again, and again, and again, and again… When the door still doesn’t open, she desperately bangs on it with her palm as though it would make Chloe’s father appear faster.

With a click of the lock, the door finally opens.

“Whoa there, Mad Max,” greets William, wearing his usual lighthearted smile. That smile quickly disappears when he sees just how panicked and out of breath the child is. Something’s definitely wrong. “What is it, sweetheart?”

Maxine had rehearsed the story in her head on the way to the door. _Chloe fell off her skateboard and hurt her arm. She’s with Rachel down the street._ This is important. There’s no time for her words to get all jumbled up. But now, standing face to face with William, all Maxine manages to choke out is Chloe’s name before breaking into hysterical sobs.

William hears his daughter’s name and his fatherly instincts kick in. He immediately steps outside in just his house slippers, looking around. Spotting Chloe and Rachel huddled up together a little ways down the street, he takes off running towards them. “Chloe!”

In a few moments William returns, carrying Chloe in his arms and Rachel following behind them. Chloe’s in the middle of explaining to him how she landed on her arm when she fell into the bowl.

“Can you move it?” asks William, noticing that it’s the same wrist that Chloe already broke in a similar accident a few years ago.

“No…” Chloe replies mournfully. “It really, really hurts...”

“We’d better go get it looked at. You didn’t hit your head or anything, did you?”

Chloe shakes her head. Even though there’s no anger or disappointment in her father’s voice, she’s feeling a little guilty. For what, she’s not sure. “Daddy, I’m sorry...”

William reassures Chloe that everything’s going to be okay and that there’s no reason for her to apologize. He helps her into the car, then turns to Maxine and Rachel, who have been standing off to the side looking a little lost. William is slightly out of breath from the adrenaline rush, but his voice is warm as always. “Girls, I have to take Chloe to the hospital to get her wrist checked out, so you’re going to have to tag along. Is that okay?”

Maxine’s still crying, but she nods, and so does Rachel.

“Maxine, sweetheart, don’t worry. Chloe’s going to be fine.” William takes the girls’ backpacks from them and loads them into the trunk, then quickly runs back into the house to grab his wallet and slip into some proper shoes. “Let’s go. I’ll call your parents once we get there to let them know where we are.”

Rachel nudges Maxine gently, signaling for her to get in the backseat first. Chloe looks miserable and is leaning her head against the window. She doesn’t look up even when Maxine scoots into the middle seat next to her, nor does she say word the entire ride to the hospital. And with everybody else worried about Chloe, no one is really in the mood for conversation anyway. It’s a quiet drive, save for poor Maxine’s occasional sniffles. Rachel has her arm looped through Maxine’s to try to make her feel better, or, perhaps, to make _herself_ feel better. Maybe a little of both.

By the time the car pulls into the parking lot of Arcadia Bay Medical Center, all tears have long dried, but nobody really feels any better. William brings the kids into the emergency department and checks Chloe in at the reception desk. The receptionist hands William a clipboard with a couple of forms to fill out, then tells them to have a seat and that a doctor will be with them shortly.

William assists Chloe into one of the blue chairs in the waiting area before taking a seat next to her and waving Maxine and Rachel over. “Have a seat, girls.”

Maxine comes over and perches lightly on the edge of the chair on the opposite side of Chloe, but the other girl doesn’t budge from her spot near the front desk. Arms folded across her chest, Rachel stares in the direction of the receptionist. It doesn’t seem like she heard William’s invitation to sit.

“Rachel?” William tries again, and this time Rachel turns around. She doesn’t look pleased with what’s happening.

“We have to wait here?” Rachel’s intonation makes it clear that she’s not really asking, but rather expressing her disbelief that the hospital staff has the audacity to make them wait.

“Yes, just until the doctor can see us.”

Rachel isn’t satisfied. She purposely speaks even louder so that the receptionist can hear. “But Chloe’s in pain! Why aren’t they helping her?”

William pats the open seat beside him, once again signaling Rachel to sit down. “Hospitals are always very busy. The doctors here have lots of patients to take care of, so they can’t always attend to everybody at the same time. I’m sure they’ll see Chloe as soon as they can.”

“It’s still dumb,” Rachel huffs, plopping herself down in the chair at last. “Can’t they at least give her, like, a pill or something to make it not hurt as much?”

“That might help, wouldn’t it?” William looks up from the medical form in his lap and checks on his daughter again. “How are you holding up, kiddo? Want me to ask if they can give us some pain meds?”

Chloe shakes her head. “No, stay here…”

“You sure?” William brushes some stray strands of hair out of Chloe’s eyes as she nods. “Can you show me your arm again?” He examines Chloe’s wrist and hums lowly. “It’s a little swollen. Hang in there.”

The girls are quiet the whole time it takes William to fill out Chloe’s medical forms. When he finally finishes signing his initials at the bottom of the last page, he secures the pen underneath the clip of the clipboard and leans back, letting out a breath that he didn’t know he had been holding. He’d better call Joyce… and Maxine’s and Rachel’s parents… to let them know what’s going on. Taking his phone out of his pocket and excusing himself, William finds the quietest corner of the room and starts making calls.

A few minutes later, William returns, looking a bit more worn out than before. “Maxine, your parents will meet us here in about half an hour to pick you up. Rachel, you’ll stay here with us and we’ll drop you off at your house once we’re done. Sound okay?”

Maxine acknowledges with a nod, but the other girl gives no response. Rachel has her head tilted back against her chair, arms still crossed, and is glaring at the ceiling. Yeah, there’s _definitely_ something wrong. William figures that something must have happened between Rachel and Chloe. Even earlier, when the girls first showed up at the house, he could already tell that there was some odd tension between the two. Whatever happened seems to have put Rachel in a bit of a foul mood.

William tries to take her mind off of it… whatever it is. “So, have you ever had to go to the hospital, Rachel?”

Three clock ticks later, Rachel straightens her back and turns to look at William. “I broke my wrist once when I went hiking with my dad.”

“Oh no,” William says, making a face, “that must’ve been a bummer.”

Rachel shrugs. “It could’ve been worse, I guess. It happened when we were leaving, so I still got to see the top of the mountain and stuff.”

“Which mountain?”

“Mount Hood,” replies Rachel, unfolding her arms. “Not last summer, but the one before that. Dad brought me and Rose* up to Oregon on a business trip, and we stayed in this really cool hotel. While Dad did his work stuff, I got to do a bunch of fun things with Rose. She even took me to the spa for a massage and a pedicure.”

Before William can say anything in response, Rachel resumes. “Anyway, Rose had a headache on the day we were supposed to go hiking, so it was only me and Dad. We made it all the way to the top and we only stopped once, and that was because Dad wanted to take a break, not me. But then on the way back down, a tree root tripped me and I fell. It hurt _sooo_ much, but I survived… and the hospital wasn’t even scary.”

William tries not to laugh. It’s not that he thinks Rachel’s story is humorous, but he’s amused at how Rachel never passes up a chance to talk about herself. She seems much less agitated now that William got her to think about something else. “You’re really brave. Chloe here has never been a fan of doctors or hospitals, have you?”

“ _Daddy_.”

At Chloe’s sudden cry of protest, William realizes that he just said something he shouldn’t have. “Sorry, sweetheart.”

“Chloe Price?”

A young woman in light blue scrubs steps out into the waiting room, holding a clipboard and looking around for her next patient.

“All right, girls, that’s us,” says William, standing. He gives the nurse a little wave of his hand to let her know that _Chloe Price_ is here and on her way. He helps his daughter up and motions for Maxine and Rachel to follow. “Ready?”

Ready or not, here they come.


End file.
